Through heavy lidded eyes, Christian watched her reach out to him. He let out a breath that shuddered through him, as his gaze raked her beautiful body. She was laid out like a goddess before him. A feast that made his heart pound and his mouth water. She was just so god-dammed gorgeous, she stole his breath away completely. His lungs hitched in his chest.
Never, not once in a million years, would he have expected that he would find someone like her. Christian knew they would never have the most traditional relationship. Usually it was meet, fall in love, get married. He grinned to himself. He had always liked doing things the hard way, Hub said. He and Melody had just done things the other way around, that was all.
They had gotten married first, and then they had gotten to know each other. And the more he learned about her, the harder he fell. How could he have not fallen in love with someone as sweet, as kind, and as strong as she was?
Despite everything she’d gone through in her life, she was still fighting for what she wanted, fighting to live the life that she’d dreamed of. She had a spirit that just wouldn’t give up, and he respected the hell out of her for it.
And now they were bringing a new life into the world. A helpless little baby that would need its parents to take care of it. Christian made a silent vow to himself, and to Melody, that he would always do so. To protect. To cherish. Always.
Rough emotion tightened in his chest as he laid the most tender kiss across her stomach, where that precious life was growing. It had been a shock, but he’d always wanted a houseful of kids one day. And he couldn’t imagine a better mother than Melody. He knew she would fight tooth and nail to love and protect their child just as much as he would.
As always, she awed him. A complete miracle. A piece of heaven he’d been granted. Pure paradise, just lying there, naked and waiting for him.
Christian didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her in his life, but he would be eternally thankful. And try to make sure he deserved her.
Slowly, he trailed kisses all over her body, marveling at the silken softness of her skin and the instant way she responded to him.
Christian forced himself to take his time, worshipping her, overwhelmed with emotion that threatened to choke him until he couldn’t speak. He tried to show her without words just how much he cared about her and cherished her.
Time passed so slowly that he almost felt like he was in a waking dream. Christian could feel Melody start to grow restless and needy beneath him, but he still didn’t rush, he still didn’t hurry his movements or his touch.
He just grinned up at her as he continued to learn every single inch of her body with his hands and mouth, his tongue and teeth. Trails of love bites left a faint red line from her collar bone down to her breast, and Melody gasped as he lapped at the tight peak of her nipple.
God, he loved the sound. He would die a happy man if he could hear that sound just one more time. He could spend a lifetime just listening to the different ways she gasped and moaned beneath him.
His own body was painfully hard and getting harder with every passing second, but he tried to push it away, to ignore it. He wanted to focus on her, everything he had on her, on giving her as much pleasure as he could.
He kissed up her inner thigh, smiling at the way she shivered and trembled beneath his lightest touch, and when her legs fell wide apart, granting him access to her sweet haven, he was lost. It was pure heaven.
Melody was already slick and ready for him, but he wasn’t. Not yet. He wanted to have her crying out and bucking wildly for him. And then he wanted to make it last as long as he could. He wanted to give her everything that he had to give, and he wanted her to take it all.
Christian placed his mouth over her soaked center, teasing her with his lips and his tongue. He didn’t stop until she was grabbing his hair and moaning his name and still he didn’t stop. Not until she came apart completely beneath him. It was addictive, the taste of her. Like honey and something as wild as the night that he didn’t have a word for.
Slowly, Christian crawled up her body, leaving more kisses behind as he went, teasing her with his touch all the way.
“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Christian whispered gruffly. He couldn’t keep the enormity of his emotions trapped inside and they burst out into words.
“You must not have seen too many beautiful things then,” Melody said on a husky laugh.
Christian frowned. He moved until he could cup her face in his hands. Tracing the sweet, familiar lines of her forehead, her cheekbone, her stubborn jawline.
“Don’t say that. How can you not know how beautiful you are?” he asked her wonderingly.
She was like the sun to him. Almost too bright to look at.
Melody just shrugged, and he knew that others in her life had beat her down, had told her she wasn’t pretty enough. He wanted to strangle them all. She really had no idea just how gorgeous she was.
He vowed he was going to show her.
She reached out for him and he slid between her thighs as if he’d always belonged there. He shook his head, marveling at her. She wouldn’t believe his words, but he would show her with his body just how beautiful she was to him, inside and out.
“Please, Christian. I need you,” she whispered, her voice ragged with need. “Now. I need you inside me.”
Christian held his breath a moment before he sank deep inside her, and he froze for a moment, just like that, connected to her as deeply as two people can be. It felt like coming home.
He moved his hips, over and over again, sinking into paradise as they moved together, losing themselves in each other.
What started off slow and sweet soon turned wild and fierce. Melody clawed across his back as she clung to him, panting, and she whispered his name like a prayer as she came apart once more. She squeezed him like a vice, so tight that he had no choice but to follow after her, throwing his head back as his entire body shuddered with a bright pleasure that blinded him.
It took a long time for Christian to come back to himself, and after a few moment he collapse on the bed next her, still holding her tight in his arms. He never wanted to let her go. He just wanted to stay like that, together, twined like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly.
Her back was snuggled up against his front, and his arm was wrapped around her middle, idly caressing her belly where their child was growing inside her.
Christian blinked back the sting of tears at the feeling of peace and happiness that filled him, as he just laid there with her, drowning in her, his body completely satisfied and still carrying her sweet scent.
Suddenly, he found himself talking. Softly, slowly at first, tentatively, as he told her all the hopes and fears and dreams that he had for their baby, for the life he wanted to be able to give their child.
He would do anything to give Melody and the baby the life neither of them had enjoyed. He would fight like hell, fight tooth and nail, to make it happen.
Christian talked about where they would go after this, and what they would do next. The words just flowed, soft and steady, and all the while he thought of that bag of money that Craig had pushed into his hands. That no one else had seen him take or knew that he had.
He had brought it inside and hid it in a kitchen cabinet earlier in the day, but besides that he hadn’t touched it. Hell, he wasn’t even sure how much money was in the damned thing.
Enough to get us out of here. Enough for a clean start.
He didn’t mention the money out loud, just talked about places he’d seen, places it would be nice to live, to have a house, to raise a child.
“What do you think about that, Mel?” he whispered, he wasn’t sure how long later.
She didn’t answer though, and when he looked down at her she was peacefully asleep in his arms. Trusting him completely.
Warmth like he had never known before filled him to the brim. He’d never known anyone like her in his life. She truly was his miracle, even if she did see it yet. She would, one day. He would make sure of it.
Christian kissed her one last time on the cheek before slowly, carefully extricating his limbs, trying to crawl out of the bed without disturbing her.
At the doorway, he turned to catch one more look at her, just because he needed to. He needed to make sure for himself that she was still there. That she was still safe.
He turned and walked down the stairs, leaving her sleeping, unaware, in the bed.